The days of your grandfather’s surge protection devices are over. Surge protection devices have evolved over the years to become far more technologically advanced than even some computer equipment. Surge protection is a cornerstone of many businesses in modern times as they do not have the ability to cut costs by utilizing cheaper equipment. They also don’t have the ability to cut costs by reducing their labor force. What they are left with is exploring methods that would lengthen the lifespan of the equipment that is currently in place, or figuring out ways that will allow the equipment to produce more, but in a less wasteful manner. In industries like green energy production, we find that reduction in the amount of offline time is the way to increase productivity, especially where equipment costs cannot be reduced. This protection of the equipment as a way to extend its life span is one of the ways that the cost gap between fossil fuel production costs and green energy production costs can be closed. Financially, what will happen is that green energy will be able to be produced in not only in a cleaner but also a less expensive fashion. This is almost exclusively the result of improved surge protection.
In many industries like green energy, we find that the high costs associated with production are actually a result of the damages that occur to equipment in the field. In the past these costs were built into the business plan as waste. Opportunities to decrease costs and increase productivity are being found through the integration of more technologically advanced surge protection equipment into the systems themselves. The surge protection devices are becoming more robust and ultimately better at their jobs by reacting and cutting off the power flow in faster and faster ways. They also are increasing uptimes by not needing to be replaced themselves in order to restore functionality to the systems that they’re protecting. This reduces both manpower costs that are associated with system restoration as well as losses that occur while the systems are offline but the fuel supply continues. Wind and sun are both free, and anytime the green energy production systems are offline (while the wind is blowing or the sun is shining) it must be considered as a loss. Through the integration of more technologically advanced surge protection devices we can keep the systems online longer, and therefore produce more using the same amount of fuel.
The evolution of technologically advanced surge protection devices that are “always on”, as opposed to needing to be replaced or reset after performing their surge protection duty, have brought a new level of savings to nearly every industry that they touch. Industrial systems are able to be kept online for timeframes that were previously impossible (due to weather as well as any other natural occurrence that previously was expected to damage equipment.) Surge protection systems have evolved to the point of being almost as critical to the system as the equipment that they protect.
